1. You want more traffic.

2. You want a 1st page Google ranking.

3. And you want subscribers in the thousands.

Before you can get there, you’ll need to optimize your Wordpress blog for both types of visitors… The searching bots and searching bods.

Bots = Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Bods = Visitor Enhanced Optimization (VEO)

Here are 5 E-A-S-Y Wordpress tweaks anyone can do that will get you points with both types of visitors.

1. (SEO) Include your main keyword or key phrase in both the blog title and the tagline, preferably twice in the title.

For example: The key phrase Web2Center has recently locked in on is “Social Marketing”. Therefore, we updated the blog title to read: “Social Marketing Strategies from Social Marketing Expert Peter Lenkefi”.

2. (SEO) Clean up the header code by removing unnecessary links and scripts.

For examples: Joost Devalk provides brilliant advice on this, he says:

3. (VEO) Add “space” to your blog.

For example: If you have a text heavy blog and are not one to use line breaks, go back through and creates some. The online reader needs more eye “space”.

Also, consider adding some bold and italics, perhaps a few …ellipses (sparingly) but be careful of those exclamation points!!!!!!!!!!!

4. (VEO) De-clutter the sidebar.

There is no shortage of bling for Wordpress sidebars. While each widget has a purpose, not all of them give value to your blog. Check your stats, your analytics and your readers… I think they all will point you to “less is more”.

If you just can’t do without the all the bells & whistles, you can always put the flashy stuff and “extra” widgets in the footer.

5. (SEO & VEO) Graduate from the school of TEXT.

Google needs rich media on the first page for every keyword you can think of. Why not be the ONE who gives it to them?

Forget trying to rank by creating 100+ anchor text back links. One well tagged and titled video and you are there.

Your visitors will thank you for content options as well.

Popularity: 14% [?]

Related Posts on Web2Center

• Problogging Success or Failure? Your Choice
• Why a Building Full of Corporate Marketers Will Never Beat a Good Business Blogger
• What is Web2Submitter?

Choosing the Right Blog Platform

Here’s a newsflash for you:

Not all blog platforms are created equal! There are really many right ways to blog.

How can you be sure you’ve picked the right one with so many solutions available? Each type of blog service has its own advantages and disadvantages, and each type of business has its own distinct needs.

In short, there are three basic types of blog platforms; hosted weblog providers (e.g., WordPress, Blogger, or TypePad), stand-alone weblog software (e.g., WordPress, Moveable Type, Grey Matter), and remote-hosted weblog software (e.g., Blogger).

Here are some helpful suggestions to get you started with choosing the right blog platform for you:

Hosted Blogs

Generally speaking, these are the easiest types of blog platform services to handle when you’re starting up your own blog.

To use a hosted blog, it’s really just as easy as setting up an email account, which you’ve surely done several times by now. Just enter your information and click on “submit.” It’s that simple.

You don’t need to download or install any special software, and the services are typically free.

While this is a quick, easy way to get started, you may eventually require more services and flexibility as you gain technical knowledge and know-how and you may need to switch your host.

Some consider that point to be one possible downside to this platform.

In a recent Zogby Interactive online survey of nearly 2,000 people, some interesting stats made me think it is time to stop blogging.

According to the survey a whopping 86% of Americans said websites were an important source of news, with more than half (56%) viewing these sites as very important. However, fewer than 38% say the same about blogs.

What’s even more interesting… 87% feel that professional journalism plays a vital role in journalism’s future, along with citizen journalism (77%) and blogging (59%) but only 1% of consider blogs their most trusted source of news, or their primary source of news.

1% ?!

Am I busting my blogging butt to impress 1%? What about that 86% who think that “websites” are an important source of news?

Is it time to retire Wordpress, find those old html pages and ftp the “old site” back up to the server?

Not exactly!

If the experience I have gained working with “newbie” clients at NetSmart Media serves me correctly, I have a feeling that most people know not what a blog is. In fact, I would be confident in saying that the sites that people come to trust the most (outside of CNN.com) are indeed professional “blogs” that are perceived as “websites”.

So, I still say it is time to quit blogging but only in the traditional sense.

Traditionally, most blogs have served up some pretty lame content. Little thought and effort goes into most posts I see as I scour the blogowogosphere.

Crusty Internet marketers, aggressive adsense portalists, and straight up spammers have jumped on Wordpress platform like it was a golden chariot leading to fame and fortune.

This has tarnished the reputation of blogs with the Internet public and so, when asked, the “public” expresses their reluctance to trust “blog content”.

We Won’t Be Blogging Anymore

Actually we stopped “blogging” a while back. Instead, we started sharing social marketing strategies and tips on our new magazine-style website.

What, you thought this was a Wordpress blog?

Well, it used to be, but, in case didn’t notice, we installed a new Wordpress theme that retired the old chronological post-after-post blog look. In fact, we are about to upgrade again to a custom Wordpress theme that carries that magazine-style look a step further… that’s coming soon (or may have already been installed if you are reading this at a later date).

Get The Point

So, to make it all clear, those stats are telling us it’s time to get serious about your web presence. It’s time to consider a custom WP or blog theme.

Retire the traditional “blog-style” blog themes and come up with something that impresses, engages and intrigues your visitors.

You don’t need to look like CNN.com, but you do need to differentiate yourself from the millions of me-too bloggers posting miserable content to one of the hundreds of free blog hosts with lame templates.

Your readers won’t trust you until you do.

Popularity: 35% [?]

Related Posts on Web2Center

• Premium Wordpress Themes
• Why a Building Full of Corporate Marketers Will Never Beat a Good Business Blogger
• We’re on Blogburst